A friend of mine at work has a very pregnant wife and a 17 year old cat that has taken to peeing all over the house. He’s had the cat since it was a kitten and loves it to death, but a cat pee-soaked house it not the best environment for a new baby.
He realizes that the cat cannot stay with him anymore but doesn’t know what to do with him. He has contacted no-kill shelters but they will not take him, and no friend is going to take a cat that pees everywhere.
So he has decided to get the cat euthenized. Its going to happen today at 5 which is about 2 and a half hours from now.
I feel so sorry for this guy. You can tell its just tearing him up to think about doing this to his beloved Shadow. His emotions are going crazy because his baby may be born in 2 days, which kinda puts this situation on the front burner.
Does anyone have any ideas or advice for him? We here just can’t think of anything.
Well, 17 years is an ancient cat, and has had a good long run on this earth. Sometimes you just have to let go. I had to have my first cat euthanized at about 16 [when I was 20. I barely remember what it was like not to have puff around. Can you tell I was very young when we named her?] but she had turned incontinent, and was starting to get senile.
I would recommend going ahead with the euthanization, and in a few months getting another kitten [or whenever it feels right to him.]
Well, sudden inappropriate elimination under these circumstances can mean a lot of things. Shadow might simply disapprove of the changes going on in the household–soiling is a prime way for cats to express disapproval. At his age, however, it can also be a sign of serious health problems and/or senility. By this point the old boy’s almost certainly got at least early stage kidney failure.
And to be brutally frank, nobody is going to adopt an elderly cat with health/behavioral problems. It simply won’t happen. The options that remain are to either keep him confined to limit the baby’s contact with the cat pee, take him to the shelter, where he’ll be classed as unadoptable and put down, or take him to his vet and have him put down.
When we got the dogs, one of our cats decided to express her disapproval by pissing on our furniture, and we just couldn’t get her to stop. We elected to limit her access to said furniture and keep her away from the dogs as much as possible. In her situation, though, we were dealing with a perfectly healthy six year old cat who freaks out around new people and places, and we were willing to deal with the consequences of keeping her.
If your friend and his wife are willing to keep the cat confined and deal with the high likelihood that he’ll pee all over the area where they keep him, and if the vet checks him out and eliminates medical causes for the behavior, it’s certainly an option. Eventually, though, the cat’s health is going to get to the point where either he dies on his own or they have to put him down. At Shadow’s age, that point’s liable to come sooner rather than later. This isn’t a decision they can put off forever, whatever accommodations they’re willing to make for the cat.
It’s always heartbreaking to let one go. Always. It’s especially heartbreaking to put one down for the welfare of other family members (financial constraints, aggression issues). It’s what we have to do, though. When we take an animal into our lives, we take on the responsibility to make their lives, and their deaths, as easy and painless as we possibly can.
All I can do is empathize. My dog Rusty, now 16, and is having a hard time getting up and down. Once he is up, he staggers his first few steps until he gets his hips under control. Last Sunday, for the first time, he lost control and took a dump in the living room. Fortunately, I’ve ripped the carpet out, (to repaint and recarpet), so it didn’t do any damage. I think the end is close at hand and I’m sad to think I’ll soon be in the same position as your friend.
You guys are great. Thank You.
I suspect little Shadow is getting all set up now. I agree with everything you all have said.
I too had to get my 13 year old Golden put down last year. It was especially tough, because on the outside he looked fine, but was basically going to bleed to death internally in a month or so.
Such a bummer.